- The first Valentine card was sent in the 15th century. It was a love poem sent by the Duke of Orleans to his wife while he was a prisoner in the Tower of London.
- The first designer of Valentine cards in the US was a woman called Esther Howland who has become known as "Mother of the American Valentine." Her business, which was active in the 1850s, earned her the equivalent of $3 million a year in today's money. She was inspired by the cards people were already sending in Britain.
- Today, about a billion people send cards on 14 February, making it the second largest seasonal card sending time. Christmas, of course, comes first.
- In 2019, Hallmark alone was offering over 1,150 different designs of Valentine's card.
- People don't just send Valentine cards to husbands, wives or lovers. It's also very common for people to give them to their teachers, their kids, their mothers and even their pets.
- People even send Valentines to fictional characters. The city of Verona in Italy, the setting for Romeo and Juliet, receives about a thousand love letters addressed to Juliet every Valentine's Day. There's even a bunch of people called the Juliet Club whose job it is to answer them all, and award a prize, the "Dear Juliet" prize, for the best letter.
- The tradition of not signing Valentine cards may well have originated in Victorian times, when it was considered bad luck to sign them.
- Another Victorian tradition was to send "vinegar Valentines" to people you didn't want as a suitor. These cards would contain comic insults and messages of rejection.
- Adorning Valentine cards with ribbons dates back to the Middle Ages when the sweethearts of knights would give them ribbons as good luck tokens when they were competing in tournaments. Lace is often used since the word "lace" comes from the Latin word for a snare or net, and the sender is hoping to snare the heart of the recipient.
- The type of card a person send can give an insight to what sort of person they are. For example, a card with a long poem inside is a sign of a patient person who takes the time to read the poems to make sure they are a good fit; trendy people go for cards which are left blank for the sender's own message, but people who select cupids are lazy. If you want to analyse the sender of your card, visit https://www.rd.com/advice/relationships/valentines-day-card-secrets/
NEW!
Settling the Score
Another collection of short stories, even more murder and mayhem with carol singers, an orchestra out for revenge, a sinister magic stone and a haunted mansion.
Available on Amazon:
Paperback E-book
During a battle with supervillains, a horrific accident leaves the Warner family with no option but to believe their youngest daughter, Jessica, is dead. It doesn't occur to them that the bad guys could, or would, save her.
Jessica wakes up with no memory of who she is or how she came to be on a space station with two bionic legs, a bionic arm and a bionic eye. She is told her family abandoned her and is sent back to Earth with a mission - to kill them. While Jessica wants to kill her family, along with the twin boys who once rejected her, she knows what the Alliance of Supervillains are asking her to do is a suicide mission. She decides to get her revenge in her own way.
As Jessica puts the first part of her revenge plan in motion, she finds herself with an agonising decision to make. Before she can decide, the Alliance come for her, determined to make her do their bidding. This time, it's the Alliance who leave her, crippled and at the mercy of the Warner family, who have no idea who the Alliance's Black Rose really is.
Jessica finds herself having to re-think her decisions in light of what she now learns about her family, the Alliance, the twins, and herself. It would appear the Alliance have left her with an unwanted and permanent reminder of her time with them. Or have they?
Jessica's older sister, Jill, knows her destiny is to be a doctor and specialise in bionics and genetic variant medicine. She is also hopelessly in love with Christopher, Crown Prince of Galorvia. Can their romance survive the lies Christopher told her when they were both at school, an unplanned pregnancy and Sophie, the wannabe princess who comes between them?
Available on Amazon
Paperback
E-book
Available on Amazon:
Paperback E-book
A Tale of Two Sisters
During a battle with supervillains, a horrific accident leaves the Warner family with no option but to believe their youngest daughter, Jessica, is dead. It doesn't occur to them that the bad guys could, or would, save her.
Jessica wakes up with no memory of who she is or how she came to be on a space station with two bionic legs, a bionic arm and a bionic eye. She is told her family abandoned her and is sent back to Earth with a mission - to kill them. While Jessica wants to kill her family, along with the twin boys who once rejected her, she knows what the Alliance of Supervillains are asking her to do is a suicide mission. She decides to get her revenge in her own way.
As Jessica puts the first part of her revenge plan in motion, she finds herself with an agonising decision to make. Before she can decide, the Alliance come for her, determined to make her do their bidding. This time, it's the Alliance who leave her, crippled and at the mercy of the Warner family, who have no idea who the Alliance's Black Rose really is.
Jessica finds herself having to re-think her decisions in light of what she now learns about her family, the Alliance, the twins, and herself. It would appear the Alliance have left her with an unwanted and permanent reminder of her time with them. Or have they?
Jessica's older sister, Jill, knows her destiny is to be a doctor and specialise in bionics and genetic variant medicine. She is also hopelessly in love with Christopher, Crown Prince of Galorvia. Can their romance survive the lies Christopher told her when they were both at school, an unplanned pregnancy and Sophie, the wannabe princess who comes between them?
Available on Amazon
Paperback
E-book
No comments:
Post a Comment